Ronan Teahan netted in the 90th minute for Dundalk at the Showgrounds to deny Darren Purse his first win as Sligo Rovers boss as the Bit O'Red's winless league run ran on to 16 games.

Kaiyne Woolery had given the already relegated Rovers the lead in the opening moments of the second period and it looked like the home side might hold on, only for Teahan to strike for a point which secures Dundalk's safety.

The point moves the Lilywhites up to fifth and crucially means that while Drogheda or Waterford could still mathematically overtake them, they both can't because of their fixture against each other on 23 October.

2026 will be a season Sligo will quickly want to move on from.

The loss of goal scorer Owen Elding to Hibs in the off season was compounded by their struggles to replace the Irish international, a huge factor in Rovers having by some gap, the division's worst goal record.

Injury to influential playmaker Jad Hakiki in May means he hasn't played since then. While arguably their player of the season, former captain Will Fitzgerald was taken away by league leaders Shamrock Rovers in the summer, just weeks after manager John Russell departed for Shelbourne.

New boss Purse has been unable to oversee a period of much needed stability and has failed to win any of his league games in charge to date.

All of these and other factors, culminating in their first relegation in over 25 years, confirmed last week.

The current season hasn't been the most comfortable for the promoted Louth side either. The loss of strikers Eoin Kenny and Gbemi Arbui hasn't helped matters for the Oriel side who have only collected a single league win since June.

They made two changes from their defeat to Bohs, Cian Dillon and Tyreke Wilson returned. While Purse brought Cian Kavanagh, Ollie Denham and local lad Daire Patton back in for his first start since July.

Rovers secured the services of their goalkeeper Liam Hughes for 2027 this week and it was at his end where most of the action took place early on, dealing with no less than eight corners in the first quarter hour.

However, it did take almost 20 minutes for the Craigavon man to face his first shot when he got in front of a piledriver from Cian Dillon after a lapse from Sligo full back Aidan Gabbidon.

The hosts did have a half chance when Woolery dragged an effort across goal in this a game between two clubs with the league's poorest current form.

The visitors, who lost Mayowa Animasahun early on, were inches away from the lead in added time at the end of the first half. Sligo skipper Gareth McElroy was well placed to swat away Aodh Dervin's effort off Hughes' line after Daryl Horgan's assist.

Rovers' last home league win came almost six months ago, against the same opposition and they had the lead seconds after the re-start when Sean Stewart's ballooned cross from the end line was met by the leaping Woolery. The former Tranmere man's header bouncing off the underside of the crossbar on its way in for his second goal in as many games.

Hughes was called up to make two stops on the hour. The best of these a wonderful dive into his corner to scrap away Egor Vassenin's header.

Ciaran Kilduff's charges leveled in the 90th minute when Teahan made the most of hesitation from the Sligo rearguard to slot the ball under Hughes after Declan McDaid reacted the quicker to a ball thrown forward.

Sligo Rovers: Liam Hughes; Aidan Gabbidon (Seb Quirk HT), Ollie Denham, Gareth McElroy, Sean Stewart; Luke Young, Daire Patton (James McManus 66); Archie Meekison, Kaiyne Woolery (Luke Pearce 70), Jack Shorrock; Cian Kavanagh.

Dundalk: Enda Minogue; Tyreke Wilson, Tom Grivosti, Mayowa Animasahun (Egor Vassenin 24); Keith Buckley (Harry Groome 73), Aodh Dervin (Declan McDaid 62), Bobby Burns; Daryl Horgan, Ronan Teahan, Trevor Clarke (Shane Treacy 63); Cian Dillon (Leo Gaxha 73).

Referee: Daniel Murphy.